Business-to-Business the Right Way: Open, Standards-Based; DataChannel to Support tpaML from IBM.

Business Editors/High Tech Writers

BELLEVUE, Wash--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 31, 2000

DataChannel announced today its support of tpaML (trading partner agreement markup language), IBM's XML-based business-to-business initiative that was submitted for standardization to OASIS' XML.org.

A recently released report from Forrester Research estimates that business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce will be worth $1.3 trillion by 2003. To capitalize on this tremendous opportunity, many businesses will start taking advantage of B2B e-commerce collaborations. TpaML enables the automation of these collaborations.

DataChannel will support tpaML, submitted to XML.org of OASIS, as the mechanism to define trading practices, processes, and protocols between partners. Once defined, these transactions will become just another series of XML documents exchanged and managed through DataChannel's XML-based Enterprise Information Portal (EIP).

DataChannel's XML-based EIP Solution creates an open, standards-based platform to personalize an &uot;e-business interface&uot; to mission critical information. Using XML and other open standards, DataChannel's EIP extends beyond the boundaries of today's corporation, creating a &uot;virtual enterprise&uot; where partners, suppliers, customers, and employees can subscribe to the relevant &uot;channels&uot; of information that are personalized to their subscription.

&uot;Proprietary systems, legacy data, and closed platforms are eliminated by creating an e-business architecture that is boundless in its reach and function,&uot; said Lucie Fjeldstad, DataChannel president and CEO. &uot;We have chosen to support tpaML and IBM because of our commitment to the customer. Submitting this initiative to an objective, vendor-neutral standards body like OASIS, greatly increases the viability of it becoming adopted as a B2B standard. By using XML to standardize the communication between companies, tpaML puts the power in the hands of the customer, right where it should be.&uot;

Additional information about tpaML and other XML standards submissions can be found at http://www.xml.org

About DataChannel

DataChannel advances the way the world does business by providing open-standards-based Internet solutions through its products, services and partners; ensuring that customers maximize the value of their information.

Privately held and founded in 1996, DataChannel, Inc. is an XML-based Enterprise Information Portal (EIP) Solutions company that unleashes enterprise information over the Internet, making it easier for employees, customers and partners to participate in your business. DataChannel's EIP Solutions Framework(TM) provides the building blocks for a solid e-business strategy. DataChannel Server(TM) 4.0, an XML-based portal server, provides a personalized and secure e-business interface, a core component of the Framework. The foundation of the Framework is the XML backbone, which extends your existing infrastructure by using XML to expose all enterprise information so that it can be accessed in a uniform manner to build dynamic Web-based applications. To learn more about DataChannel, visit the company's Website at http://www.datachannel.com.

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